CaSTaway build 006 - Atari ST Emulator for PSP

[wraggster]

Skeezix (http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=544219&postcount=79) let me know on IRC about a new version of his excellent Atari ST Emulator for the PSP, heres the release details:


Get CaSTaway build 006 here:
http://www.codejedi.com/shadowplan/castaway.html

I've proven it to work on my PSP Slim; I hope it still works on the Fat.

Please let me know if..
- it works on your Slim
- it works on your Fat with firmware 3.6 or later
- it works on your Fat with firmware earlier than 3.6
- it works on your Fat with 1.5

I am not including a kxploited or firmware-1.0 build in this release, in hopes this new Slim-happy one works on them all.. but we'll have to find out, and I'll adjust my releases as needed. (ie: If I need to include 2 or 3 or 4 builds for different firmwares, I will.)

This release freshens up the emu to my latest codebase and fixes a number of minor issues both in the emu and in the interface, as well as adding some goofy UI effects.

jeff

Edit: Known to work on Fat with 3.52 and 3.71, as well as Slim.

Download and Give Feedback and Compat Reports Via Comments

[Oops]

Sweet, thank you Skeezix. This version seems to runs fine on my fat 3.71 m33-3 PSP :)

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/1998/snap0001mf9.th.png (http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snap0001mf9.png)

[wed5366]

awsome!!!!...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.... ...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!hi?

[marzsyndrome]

Nice to know this ace emulator hasn't been totally, permanently abandoned at least! :)

Although as much as I love the fact it's full-speed, it could do with a couple of fixes, namely:

1) Having a fixed folder to store files in (ATARI_ST) tends to have the side effect of leaving a Corrupt Icon present in the XMB's games list. If only there was a way to hide game folders away from the XMB's beady eyes (I thought Hide Folders would be the solution, but alas no). Alternately, maybe Castaway could use a more traditional file browser function like most emulators? :)

2) Perhaps it might help if there was an added option which would make it quicker and easier to auto-load disk images in an instant (like a "reset and run" option or something, kinda like in PSPVice). Having to navigate manually around the menu just to get the disk in and the emu reset is a bit difficult on the brain at times, haha.


I don't mean to sound moany, but I might as well mention these ideas before I forget them already. :) It's ultimately up to Skeezix though.

[SpacemanSpiff]

So is there anything new to this version other than it works on slim PSPs?

[sappo]

Noooo... ATARI_ST is still there :(

[skeezix]

I can make it also detect the Atari-st folder somewhere else, or maybe add a browser. Time is tight as heck nowadays, but keep the ideas coming.

SpacemanSpiff -- mostly a lot of fluff; a new build machine thats more up to to date, fixes to the UI and some changes there, works with Slim, and some fairly specific emulation changes (probably only effect a couple of games.) Still, its been so long I figure it warrants a build bump, just so its on peopels radars.

jeff

[sappo]

Yay!!! Thank you Skeezix!! :D

[Baboon]

Is there a reason why its supplied in two folders?

I placed the eboot from the Castawaypsp folder into the atari_st folder then deleted the Castawaypsp folder. Then just put atari_st into my game folder (I'm on a phat psp with 3.71m33) and the emulator still boots up fine??

It's nice to see this having an update... hopefully this will be something worked on again soon? :)

[skeezix]

You can put the eboot anywhere you like really, since it doesn't directly depend on anything. I did it that way originally in case someone else made an ST emu, we could share disks and such easier :P Rather a moot point.

jeff

[bmanic]

Anybody found a way to run Nethack 3.4.3 version for Atari ST on this emulator? I can't create a .ST disk image as the game is over 2 megabytes large. :(

Is castaway emulator going to support harddisk emulation at some point or is there a workaround to create an "unrealistic" large image to fit nethack on to the disk?

Cheers!

[skeezix]

I keep meaning to add HD support in; some time :P

You can do somewhat large floppies, but it does some sanity checking; I need to add an option to let you do insane floppy sizes .. 2MB should be doable by the addressing system I imagine (total guess..) -- going up to 1MB is certainly doable.

I did have some version of nethack that worked .. a very old version. I think there is a PSP native nethack by now though, no?

jeff

[bmanic]

Yes, there is a native nethack version but I'd still prefer it on the atari emulation.. don't know why. :)

Cheers for the awesome emulation though! I'm having a blast playing stunt car racer again!

Cheers!
bManic

[garcimak]

:thumbup:
Thank you for your update, you're the one !
CaSTaway is the factor which decide me to buy a psp slim.

That bring me back a lot of souvenirs, as i was expecting the most accurate and fidelity possible to reproduce the ST feeling, i'm really astonished.


Eventually some config file support with key-binding options will be
added so you can really go to town..

I really don’t have anything else to desire on this emulator. So i'll just have to wait, for this to happen. Crossfingered.

[Baboon]

er? this thread isn't really new? lol

Anyway... I look forward to key configuaration in the next build as currently 'North & South' is unplayable as you can't select your different characters when in battle. :(

[kharaboudjan]

i cant understand why this emu is almost full speed when the amiga is far far from full speed? is the amiga so much more difficult to emulate than the atari st?

(i know the amiga is more powerful but this emu has been near fullspeed for years and the amiga has a crew of many coders and has a loooong way until it is fullspeed)

[skeezix]

i cant understand why this emu is almost full speed when the amiga is far far from full speed? is the amiga so much more difficult to emulate than the atari st?

(i know the amiga is more powerful but this emu has been near fullspeed for years and the amiga has a crew of many coders and has a loooong way until it is fullspeed)

Sorry for not replying much guys .. the days fly by with the newborn at home. You mean to do something and then a week flies by..

Anyway, for performance..

Two main things:

1) CaSTaway emu is designed to be high performance, at the loss of features. ie: We dont' implement a lot of stuff, so many things do not work; however, the plus is that it runs darned fast for what works, which happens to be about 80% or so .. so in my books, it is worth it. Run well, for most things, is better than run crappy for everything :)

UAE on the other hand is quite comprehensive and accurate, so it is difficult to cut it down to get a lot of high performance on low end machines out of it. But also..

2) The Amiga is much harder to do well; you can cut it down tro essentiallys and a few things work really well, but by and large a high number of games require a fair amount of accuracy and supported components in the emulation, so it is harder to get performance out of an Amiga emulator.

In the end, there is UAE and few other Ami emus. No one has sat down to wrtite one that is pure speed and 'good enough', but it might not work out too well anyway.. *shrug*

jeff

[kharaboudjan]

ok, thanx jeff, hope you will continue to work on your fantastic castaway =)

[Lucek]

I cant start any game on this, i ve got fat psp 3.90 m3-33.
does anyone knowhow to fix it??????

[skeezix]

I cant start any game on this, i ve got fat psp 3.90 m3-33.
does anyone knowhow to fix it??????

What does it do?

Can you start the emu at all? IS it a problem launching games? Do you get any thing at all or just blank screens.. details man :P

(Aside.. we bought a new house; moving is hell!)

jeff

[sfaok]

Thanks, Skeezix, for the update to a great little emu.

A little tip for a temporary fix in regards to the corrupted ATARI_ST folder issue, simply move the eboot file from the castaway folder into the ATARI folder and, hey presto, no corrupted folder icon in the XMB !

[Baboon]

Thanks, Skeezix, for the update to a great little emu.


Well Its not been updated for over 8 months? ...and theres still no key user key mapping configuration. :(

Will this ever be implemented skeezix? ...and how about porting this to the wii? :thumbup:

[caffeinekid]

Argh! When I saw this on the first page of the forum I thought it had been updated. :(

[Arwin]

Just want to report that this excellent little piece of software still runs on CFW 5.00 M33-6 ... :)

And that was before I installed the FW1.5 add-on (I have the phat).

Also, I was wondering if it is possible to get the source somewhere. I love playing old Sierra adventures, and currently typing is a bit cumbersome and I can't input "ken sent me" fast enough in Leisure Suit Larry I. So recently someone made a great suggestion to improve the useability of p-sprint (a hud-less typing interface that can do just about everything a real keyboard can, including shift, control, alt, etc.) by changing the layout to something that's actually easy to remember and that really works quite well.

Assuming you won't be bothered to add that to castaway as a test (should be easy enough), I was wondering if I could fool around with the source to try and do it myself?

[skeezix]

If you can dig up details for me (ie: canonicle recent source for the entry lib etc) I can probably merge it in; if not I can post source as well.

I actually did add p-sprint at one time I think, but I just really dislike it since it is so utterly unintuitive; I'd rather it had a HUD option rerally so there coudl be a cross-application common HUD keyboard .. or at least a help function, since theres simply no way I'd remember how to use it, with the frequency of use I need for it :)

jeff

[B2K24]

Glad to see emulators being worked on for the PSP. I will check out this work as soon as i find out exactly what Atari ST actually is.
I'm only familiar with the 2600 5200 7x00 that ZX-81 released.

[orig_ganjaman]

Hi I love this emu thank you for your great work. My question is, is user key mapping going to be implemented. I love xenon. but the space bar is needed. Thanks again:)